Page 109 of In Rising Tides

A broad smile curved up the corner of Otto’s lips, so broad in fact that Wilder could almost see all of his teeth. His eyes swirled and stilled. “She’ll be along soon.”

“She?” Maelys asked, her brows cinching together.

“You’ll name her Lady of the Stars,” Otto answered.

Wilder’s heart thumped wildly in his chest.She.

Did Otto see Lyra returning?

If there was a chance, he would not tell them—not until he knew for sure.

But there was a chance …

Lyra’s body floated on top of the water, carried on rushing waves towards the shore.

Birds cried overhead, and she could hear them, hear the wind that sang to them.

Her skin was hot beneath the sun’s rays. It was so lovely to be on land again.

She sighed, but water splashed down her throat, and she choked on it. Her eyes were leaden as she struggled to open them, the water rushed constantly over her face.

Lyra gave up trying to see.

This was a dream, she realized when she heard Wilder’s voice.

A dream she did not want to wake from. Her heart galloped in her chest, and she focused on the water beneath her and the feel of the sun above her.

He was telling her a story in a lilting and melodic voice, like when the willow sang to her.

Long ago, Ennosidas overthrew Tiandra with the help of the Na Tuinnes.

Lyra’s head tilted to the side of its own accord. She had heard that name whispered about before. She just couldn’t remember where.

The water beneath her turned to sand, and she could feel tendrils of it stick to her wet skin.

The Na Tuinnes and Mharas were the first peoples of Atlantis—or so the legends go.

A smile curled her lips as she finally remembered where she had heard the name. Her father had spoken it years ago when she asked about the first tribes he had descended from, the Na Tuinnes.

It was whyhedeserved the throne.

Lyra saw the sea as it was before, vast and wild.

The reef had gone straight through their kingdom and was much larger than it is today. But a dark shadow gathered in the distance. She backed up instinctively as it came into view.

A creature that should not exist anymore.

But an ancient monster roamed this land first, making it deadly for any who tried to live here. They begged theirgoddess, Tiandra, for a way to vanquish the beast, and instead she gifted them magical powers.

Wilder’s deep voice had lightened, shifting from masculine to feminine.

Lyra struggled to hold on, to keep him here. But he faded away. She tried to scream and beg him to stay, but her body would not cooperate.

She had sunk into the sand, and the weight of it kept her limbs from moving.

Even with all their magic, they couldn’t slay the beast, but they did manage to sing it to sleep.

It was her mother’s voice.